Ala Mhigo should get a proper city-state

[Protantical]

Given that the original design of the game was intended to have six cities, one each associated with a different element, I kind of feel like both Ala Mhigo and Old Sharlayan deserve to be promoted to city-states. At the very least they need to be world-transfer hubs, along with Kugane which shouldn't require city-hopping just to visit housing on another world, and probably Doma which is kind of a secondary hub in the East. While we are at it, just add world-transfer options to Radz-at-Han and the Crystarium aetherytes as well.

I'm sure there's some spaghetti code that's the reason, but I seriously hope they try cause it's a pain in the ass jumping to Ul'dah or Limsa to tele. Old Sharlayan though already has a hub and all that jazz though. I wouldn't be opposed to it getting a housing district either maybe after Ala Mhigo or Crystarium (since they came first).

[Arzalis]

Ala Mhigo really does deserve it's own proper city. I was really disappointed that most of the city is stuck in a dungeon.

[grinkdaboy]

the biggest mistake in stormblood was that ala mhigo itself was a dungeon

[Duskane]

I would definitely take another ala mhigo expansion just so it can be a little more fleshed out instead of stormblood being a mix bag.
but will probably never happen for Ala mhigo but Hingashi/Othard for sure will get another Expac

[Protantical]

I would definitely take another ala mhigo expansion just so it can be a little more fleshed out instead of stormblood being a mix bag.
but will probably never happen for Ala mhigo but Hingashi/Othard for sure will get another Expac

For real. If not a whole reconstruction DoH/L event, open up a city-state instance a la Pillars/Foundation with a lot more on how Ala Mhigo currently operates, how it's government is going to deal with the inevitability that's running out of gold from Skalla's vault, how it's handling it's prejudice and place in Eorzea now, how influential the Fists of Rhalgr have become since the 80 job quest, etc.

That way, you flesh out Ala Mhigo way more than Stormblood could AND bring it to equal levels with the other city-states instead AND give it a recognizable aesthetic.

[kaynide]

For me it is ultimately a result of some unfortunate, possibly necessary, choices.
This is my opinion, of course. I wouldn't die on this hill or anything, just I'd say I'm in the "Not bad, but I'd rather..." camp.

1) The zones of Gyr Albania are..pretty boring stuff overall.

Stormblood had 3 zones dedicated to Ala Mhigo, and a "Hub" of Rhalgar's Reach. All of them had a very dull color scheme (browns, mostly), essentially making it "More Ul'Dah". I'm hard pressed to even remember what the major things are in each zone, or even name matches which zone. Whereas I have a very specific image of each of Othard's zones. It's very similar problem to the various La Noscea/Shroud/GustaburgThanalan zones.

(I've reminded myself for the purposes of this post, but I don't expect I'll remember a month from now)

It would have been MUCH better if they utilized the more unique bits and made that the majority of the zone. The Fringes could have just been a huge "Nile-esque" river system, with the swamp a bit bigger- save the badlands for the Peaks.

2) As a player (not in-game character/lore), I don't really feel it is a relevant place to go.

Yes, we could RP that we visited, or talk about what's going on in there..but as a player I've only done a single dungeon there. It's about as desirable as taking over Castrum Meridium and rebuilding that into a city.

3) Really it's just this: IMO! There are more worthwhile places to go.

We know all games have limited development time, and therefore limited expansion packs. If a future expansion, they need to decide the hub town I think Ala Mhigo would make a fine choice, but I'd be much more interested in visiting "the New World", or that "Lost City of Gold" or a lot other places first.

That said, infinite budget, lots of expansion packs to go, I'd be happy if it made sense in the story to revisit this place.

The good news is I think the Dev team learns a lot each expansion. Post Stormblood I think they learned they need the zones to be more distinguishable (aka colorful), even Thavnair is extremely...unique... in color. Or alternatively Elpis compared to the 3.0 flying zones is much more polished.

[anhaato]

After we spent an entire expansion liberating them and helping them rebuild their lives and their city, we don’t get to be part of it? It’s ridiculous, their story ended on such a disappointing note. This is why I want a restoration for them, base it around the dungeon and expand outward.

Also lol at everyone saying no just because they think Gyr Abania is ugly, if you don’t get it that’s on you! I’m a huge fan of the Turkey-inspired overworld and pink stone architecture.

[Anvaire]

i think Ala Mghigo's problem is that while it was liberated and had heavy focus since 1.0 geographically, the region was very samey coupled with wanted to SB to have impact, the devs chose to twin it with Kugane and doma. I think it was said in one of the post stormblood development interviews that they thought an expansion only on Ala mhigo would be boring because there wasnt enough diversity between Ala Mhigo themed zones. I.e they would all be craggy rock places. And from this aside from being the new alliance meeting hub, there is little purpose to Ala mhigo being included in the story. By this i mean there isnt really anything else it needs to achieve as its main issue was ocupation and subsequent overcoming of said occupation now that they were liberated was tied up in 4.1. Which unfortunately means that Ala mhigo is stuck where it is being less and less relevant.

In terms of having it as a city state like zone, i agree it would be cool, but the question again would be why? what does Ala Mhigi have that can be used to firther the story? Sharlayan was chosen because we have never been there and it was full of scholars which then formed an integral part of EW narative.

Personally i would have prefered they had focused on Ala mhigo for an expansion and the east for an expansion... but even then i dont know how they would overcome the samey zone issue, unless they also included other parts of the shroud or places beyond ala mhigo that were different.

[Protantical]

i think Ala Mghigo's problem is that while it was liberated and had heavy focus since 1.0 geographically, the region was very samey coupled with wanted to SB to have impact, the devs chose to twin it with Kugane and doma. I think it was said in one of the post stormblood development interviews that they thought an expansion only on Ala mhigo would be boring because there wasnt enough diversity between Ala Mhigo themed zones. I.e they would all be craggy rock places. And from this aside from being the new alliance meeting hub, there is little purpose to Ala mhigo being included in the story. By this i mean there isnt really anything else it needs to achieve as its main issue was ocupation and subsequent overcoming of said occupation now that they were liberated was tied up in 4.1. Which unfortunately means that Ala mhigo is stuck where it is being less and less relevant.

In terms of having it as a city state like zone, i agree it would be cool, but the question again would be why? what does Ala Mhigi have that can be used to firther the story? Sharlayan was chosen because we have never been there and it was full of scholars which then formed an integral part of EW narative.

Personally i would have prefered they had focused on Ala mhigo for an expansion and the east for an expansion... but even then i dont know how they would overcome the samey zone issue, unless they also included other parts of the shroud or places beyond ala mhigo that were different.

If I'm interpreting that argument right, then there's no purpose for the Ishgardian Restoration because there isn't going to be an expansion with Ishgard as the central figure again. I'm not asking for an Ala Mhigan expansion like Stormblood 2, but a restoration to have it become a real city-state hub to make up for it's mishandling throughout Stormblood. We liberated an entire nation for like, five way too long pointless alleyways, a Menagerie, and a war room. The excuse of, "All areas would look samey" also doesn't sit right with me because Ala Mhigo (the city proper) is already visually distinct from the rest of Gyr Abania. I would like to see MORE of it.

As for what stories Ala Mhigo can still tell, occupation doesn't end with liberty. That's been shown in the Endwalker Healer role quests. The nation still has to heal and that sort of stuff can really resonate with people if it's done correctly. It's just a shame it's put into a role quest and not a main part of it's story. That's just the general theme with Ala Mhigo's treatment by the devs: constantly sidelined for other shit. Give it a city, a la New/Old Gridania, Steps of Thal/Nald, Lower/Upper Lominsa, Pillars/Foundation, so that you have all five major cities they've always wanted since the start of 1.0.

[Protantical]

If I'm interpreting that argument right, then there's no purpose for the Ishgardian Restoration because there isn't going to be an expansion with Ishgard as the central figure again. I'm not asking for an Ala Mhigan expansion like Stormblood 2, but a restoration to have it become a real city-state hub to make up for it's mishandling throughout Stormblood. We liberated an entire nation for like, five way too long pointless alleyways, a Menagerie, and a war room. The excuse of, "All areas would look samey" also doesn't sit right with me because Ala Mhigo (the city proper) is already visually distinct from the rest of Gyr Abania. I would like to see MORE of it.

As for what stories Ala Mhigo can still tell, occupation doesn't end with liberty. That's been shown in the Endwalker Healer role quests. The nation still has to heal and that sort of stuff can really resonate with people if it's done correctly. It's just a shame it's put into a role quest and not a main part of it's story. That's just the general theme with Ala Mhigo's treatment by the devs: constantly sidelined for other shit. Give it a city, a la New/Old Gridania, Steps of Thal/Nald, Lower/Upper Lominsa, Pillars/Foundation, so that you have all five major cities they've always wanted since the start of 1.0.